G.E.S.S.: Genetically Engineered Super Soldier

by Frank Pisauro

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Maximus assigned the same scout who had told us about the patriarch to lead the way to the newly named Piggy Pond. Not my finest work, I thought to myself. Oh well, they can’t all be winners. The trip was seriously boring, we spotted no animals, and nothing attacked us as we went deeper into the grassland. Remaining silent, we tried to draw as little attention as possible while traveling as stealthy and fast as we could. Something that I was not very good at, okay, I’m terrible at it, at least compared to the scout and Lucky.

  Fortunately for me, my gear wasn’t all metal, so I was able to keep the noise down to a minimum, which didn’t mean that there was no noise at all, making the elf scout cringe occasionally at my attempts at stealth.

  That didn’t matter as much as we thought it would the closer we got too Piggy Pond. The monstrous beings made enough noise to cover an airplane’s takeoff, thankfully, making our job that much easier from a few hundred feet out. Some of the noises were so disturbing I almost lost my rations. It sounded like a mixed-up jumble of eating something living, it screaming while both parties were having sex at the same time.

  The wereboars had posted no form of guards that the scout noticed, this time or the last, making it easy to circle to the pond’s left where the granddaddy piggy stayed. We advanced in a crouch, keeping our heads below the top of the grass, then spread out with slow, steady movements, trying to disturb as little of the environment as possible in our approach. We crept up close to the edge of the grass surrounding the pond before the scout indicated that we should stop, well, for me to stop, I thought. Lucky and the scout went closer, leaving me behind due to my poor stealth.

  After getting the hold signal from the scout, I carefully got into a comfortable position, letting him and Lucky keep watch as we settled in. We were hours ahead of the main forces’ attack, which meant hours of waiting before we could reveal ourselves, keeping as quiet and still as we could in the meantime. This was nothing new to me, having been in plenty of ambushes during the war that ended life on this planet. Though it was a dangerous place to be, just a few short yards from our enemy, hoping that none of them noticed us or caught our scent. Still, it was also boring, and you had to avoid becoming complacent or burned out, not easily done during the hours of doing nothing. I just hoped Lucky wouldn’t get us caught. He hadn’t been trained for this, but he was a hunter before, I reminded myself, easing some of my worry.

  Hours later, the scout returned, explaining through the mind link that the main force should arrive soon and that he had to go back to them to let them know the plan was still on. As he left, he told us to be ready and wished us luck. Leaving Lucky and me alone, the sounds of wereboars in my ears. I wish I had music, I think as I watch the grass sway lightly in the breeze, the smell still there, but muted after being around it for hours.

  An hour later, I knew the elves’ forces had arrived. The wereboars all went silent for a few moments, turning to look in the elves’ direction before I heard the deafening roar of what had to be my target. All the other wereboars I had encountered had a bit of a piggy squeal to their roars. Not this one. It was a deep, teeth-rattling roar that I felt in my chest, sounding more like a polar bear than any kind of pig I knew of.

  That was the cue for the others to attack, once again filling the pond with their noise as the males charged the elves and the females collected the children. I was up from my resting position in a flash of dexterous movement. Still crouching, I made my way to the edge of the grass overlooking the pond. It wasn’t deep at all, more like an indentation that had formed from the mass of bodies that had lived in it than a natural pond. The reek that it gave off was more nauseating than the sounds leading there were. Rotten meat, filth, garbage, and shit were everywhere, adding a disgusting sight to the already overwhelming vomit-inducing surroundings. The main attraction, however, was the monstrous creature in front of me.

  Wereboar Patriarch

  Level 10

  Description: This wereboar is genetically superior to others. Making it faster, stronger, and tougher than its kin. Leader of this tribe. Wereboars, while having minor intelligence, are not considered intelligent life.

  The patriarch was massive, I had fought large creatures in the past, but you somehow never really got used to the size difference between them and you. Closer to twelve feet in height than the estimated nine, it almost qualified as a giant. It had all the general features of every other wereboar I had seen. Just bigger, with more muscle mass, and a meaner attitude. Its tusks were jet black, five-foot-long deadly weapons that I was sure could easily punch through plate mail like paper. Its arms, legs, and chest were thick with defined muscles that Arnie would be proud of. Yup, this is going to be fun, I thought, half-joking, completely nervous. My adrenaline was pounding through me as I cast my buffs, eyeing the monster, the thrill and terror of battle again igniting my soul.

  “Lucky,” I shouted to get both his and the monster’s attention. “Keep any stragglers off me while I deal with pig fucker, yeah?” I said to him, as I started heading toward the patriarch, my eyes never leaving it, even as I spied the few males who hadn’t run off like the rest.

  “You got it, Rho,” Lucky sprang into action from his position on my right. I shot a plasma bolt into granddaddy to draw his attention back to me as he turned to watch Lucky attack the stragglers. I wasn’t surprised, though deeply disappointed when the bolt stopped only a few inches into his flesh. It had the desired effect though, the patriarch turning his hate-filled eyes on me, ignoring Lucky and charging straight toward me. I could hear the booms from the explosions the elven mages were delivering as the main forces started to engage one another. The screams of the dying soon following. Women wereboars fled from us all, running wildly around the pond, the youngest children among them holding tight to their chests. I took it all in, willing myself to stay focused as the monster charged.

  Stepping to my left, I cut at the back of his right leg as the patriarch rushed past me in an attempt to hamstring him. Immediately jumping backwards as high into the air as I could, using precision strike with quick strike after my cut was done, I noticed the lack of damage to the leg as I did. My sword sliced into the tusks that came at me as my skills were executed. I thought it might have an ability like the one that had gored me before, so prepared accordingly, striking out with my skills to counter the blow sent my way. If I got caught by the attack this time, I had no doubt I wouldn’t survive. My counter blow was enough to push his head past me, his powerful tusks missing me completely. The monster’s shoulder clipped me on the top of my legs, flipping me over his back. I was able to twist enough while in the air to get a good two-handed swing across its spine, before I righted myself and prepared for a rough landing. Thankfully, the patriarch arched his back in pain, his right hoof changing course and missing flattening my face by mere inches. His quick turning backhand managed to hit me, as I stood immobilized by the hit from his shoulder, my legs trying to recover in time to move out of the way. Tossed violently to my left, I rolled back up onto my feet fifteen feet away. The blow caused some bruising, but didn’t break anything, thanks to my stats and the fact that the monster couldn’t get a full swing in after I sliced his back. I had to quickly dodge to my side, his rapid charge closing the distance before I could fully recover. Fuck, he’s faster than I thought he would be.

  I hit him with manipulate gravity, slowing him as much as I could while one-handedly using precision strike and quick strike again, this time, cutting completely through his left tusk. His right tusk missed me once again. I stabbed my sword into his shoulder as he lowered it slightly to better ram into me, using it to swing around his arm and prevent being hit. The patriarch roared in pain. I had to kick off him as his other hand tried to swat me like an irritating bug from across his body. Channeling a plasma stream, I aimed for the cut on his back, using it to push me backwards as I dropped to the ground, giving me room to maneuver into a better position before he could come at me again.


  The patriarch changed tactics, as I prepared for another attempt to hamstring him. Instead of charging me yet again, the wereboar patriarch roared at me, the power of an ability he possessed mixed into it. Damage notifications blinked in the corner of my vision. It was some type of sonic attack with a mental component to it. I picked that up without needing to look at the notifications, thanks to the many battles I had been through in the last war. Thankfully, I was immune to mental manipulation, and had fifty percent resistance to magic. He didn’t know that, and I wasn’t going to advertise that his attack hadn’t worked as intended, though the roar had deafened me, causing blood to pour from my ears. I had seen similar attacks used against my fellow soldiers before. They would leave the victim dazed, wobbling around drunkenly, unable to fight back for a short time. Usually, just long enough to die screaming. Pig fucker general came at me quickly, his long legs making short work of the distance between us, still not going full speed, wanting to savor the moment he killed the annoying bug that had dared to injure him. The patriarch had a shit eating grin on his face when he stopped in front of me. All the while, I pretended to sway drunkenly, not looking the beast in the eye. As he lifted his hoofed foot above my head, I struck like lightning. Using both hands to make a vicious cut to his planted leg, I used ion control to apply plasma directly to the blade of my mithril long sword. As my enhanced blade cut right through the skin, muscle, and tendons located there, his leg gave out on him. He fell awkwardly as his other leg attempted to crush me. I heard the crunch and crack of breaking bones as the extended leg snapped from over extension. The patriarch hit the ground, rolling away from me with a terrible scream of pain, in a desperate attempt to get as much distance between us as he could.

  His bellow of agony vibrated in my chest, even if I couldn’t hear it, as I was still deaf from his shout ability earlier. I didn’t waste time, unwilling to give the beast a second to recover, sprinting over to his downed, writhing form. The patriarch was on his side, holding his snapped leg with his arms. His head was off the ground, his neck tossed back in pain as he mouthed his screams in what to me was silence. The muscles of his body bunched tight as the pain took over his mind. I added more plasma to my long sword’s blade, bracing with my off hand as I plunged it right into the base of his brain stem.

  EXP Earned: 40,000

  EXP Total: 228,460

  EXP Until Next Level: 26,540

  Ion control skill increase: + 3

  Bastard sword skill increase: + 2

  Precision strike skill increase: + 2

  Quick strike skill increase: + 2

  Manipulate gravity skill increase: + 1

  The patriarch’s death was instantaneous. His body went limp as his head fell to the ground, the bellow dying in his throat. The result of his death was profound. As soon as the roar was cut off, I could hear the wereboars’ screech almost as one. They all stopped what they were doing, turning toward their fallen leader as the screaming momentarily halted the battle. The elves were just as stunned at the screams of the fallen leader as the enemy were. That didn’t stop the elves from continuing their slaughter of the beasts, once their NCOs began yelling after a few seconds had passed. The concussions, followed by the boom of the explosions, still rang through my body as the mages opened up on the wereboars who were now turning to flee. That was the final blow, only a few dozen male wereboars remained, all of them taking off in a mad dash to escape. Running as fast as they could to get as far as possible from me and the elves. I was grateful that my hearing was finally restored, even if it was filled with the sounds of battle and the screams of the dying. My body was bruised from the blows I had received, but my healing factor was on top of it. I would be need to eat a large meal tonight to make up for the energy loss though.

  The elves didn’t chase them, letting the rest of their enemies flee unmolested. Again, Maximus showed good sense in his orders, and I was impressed with the elves’ discipline, staying in formation instead of chasing after their enemy. I looted the patriarch’s corpse while Lucky walked up beside me having finished looting his own kills. “Good job, Rho, I thought I was going to have to take over when he shouted like that.” He stated, as he clapped me on the shoulder. “Glad it didn’t come to that,” he said, worry showing through his smile and voice.

  “Nah, I was fine.” I said with a wave of my arm. “He was a tough bastard,” I admitted, turning away from the battlefield. Watching the breeze blow across the grasslands, I tried my best to ignore the sounds of the injured behind me. Lucky nudged me, and after a few seconds, I turned toward where the remaining wereboars fled, neither of us wanting to see the looting process in action. Though the only thing we saw was the tail end of the last wereboars leaving as rapidly as they could. “Well, I doubt you’ll see those piggies anytime soon.” He nodded to me, not bothering to respond.

  “So, get anything good?” He asked, inquiring about the loot.

  “I don’t know yet, let me check.”

  Items Received:

  ●One Wereboar Patriarch tusk. Crafting material.

  ●One hundred pounds wereboar patriarch meat.

  ●Ring of Stunning Shout:

  ○Gives wearer the ability stunning shout twice a rest cycle. Restores charge while resting. Stunning shout does sonic damage and causes stun debuff for three seconds (mental attack).

  “A ring that has the shout ability the big bastard had and one of his tusks. Not bad, not mind-blowing either,” I told Lucky after reading the prompt. “The ability could be useful,” I shrugged, not really my style, though. I finished mentally, I had other plans in mind for the ring.

  “Well. could be worse. Could be a load of meat.” I gave him a disgusted look. “Oh, you got a lot of that too, huh.” He said, laughing at my expression while shaking his head. With a pat to my shoulder, he added, “well, I’m off to loot my own kills. You’re welcome by the way.”

  “Thank you,” I said questioningly.

  “For watching your back, ingrate. Jeez, would ‘great job, Lucky. Couldn’t do it without you’, kill you or something? He was joking somewhat, a mischievous, playful look on his face.

  I answered him honestly, “or something, Lucky.” It was the truth, but said with a laugh and a smile.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The journey home was made in high spirits, the elves having vanquished a foe who, just months before, had been eating them with impunity. Which was great for morale. Not willing to risk the jungle after dark, we stopped at the same place we had before to set up camp for the night. The marks from the old camp made it easy to rebuild at a much faster pace than the first time. By midafternoon the next day, we made it back to Tigris. After breaking free of the jungle once more, the elves sang the cadences I had taught them.

  Tabby greeted me at the doors of Marvel. “Back in one piece I see.” She kissed me on the cheek upon my arrival. “Dear system! You need a bath,” she affirmed, holding her nose amused. Laughing, I headed for the stairs. She stayed by my side as we entered the elevator, going up to our floor in silence.

  On the ride up, Tabby suddenly collapsed to the ground, my heart stopping in my chest as I bent down to see what the hell had happened. As I turned her flat on her back, she sat bolt upright. Right into my hovering face. “Ow. Damn, Tabby, first you scare the shit out of me. Then,” I stressed the word. “You headbutt the hell out of me. Are you okay? What on earth just happened?” I took a second to calm myself, looking her over to make sure she was okay. Groaning a little as she eyed me angrily, Tabby was rubbing her head.

  “Good grief, Rho, you have a hard head.”

  “Pfft, says every woman I ever knew.” I joked, realizing she was okay. We had arrived at our floor, so I helped walk her to our room, letting her take the time she needed to collect herself. Both of us were completely content to walk in silence, not wanting to talk in the hallway about what had happened.

  Once in our room, I shut the door, controlling my urge to rush over to her, asking on
ce more, “you okay, Tabs? What happened back there?”

  “Yes, Rho, I’m fine. I was… how do I put this.” she paused, looking down, her hand on her chin as she thought. Looking up at me, she continued, “downloading an update would be a way to describe it so that you can understand. The system needed to update me on a few things, and the sudden influx of knowledge temporarily shocked me into losing control over my body.” She shook her head, “but don’t worry. Now that I’ve been through the experience once, I will no longer be affected by another update.” Emphasizing update before continuing. “Should it happen again, well… when it happens again, I should say.”

  “Okaaay,” I replied, stretching the word out, unsure what to make of that. “I’m glad to hear it.” I laughed nervously. “That could have been fatal had it happened at the wrong time.”

  “No. My body starts regenerating as soon as I’m outside it. So, it might take a little while, but I’ll always come back, but I don’t know how that will affect my memory.” She explained, waving away my concern about that last piece of information, as she flopped down onto the bed. “The important part was what the update was about!” She exclaimed, changing the subject to cut off my questions.

  “It seems two sentient races are on the brink of war. The update was to point us in that direction.” She hesitated, looking pensive. Cocking her head at me, she said, “I don’t think you’re going to like this next part of our quest, but such is life,” she gave a cute shrug as she smirked. “Now, go get showered, I want to show you how much I missed you,” shooting finger guns at me as she said it. Which was still super-hot in my opinion, I chuckled, turning to leave. “Oh, and before I forget, there’s this.” She waved to me as I closed the door, a prompt blinking in the corner of my vision.